


Topher's Story

by bluwaterdragoon



Category: Bleach, Bleach (Roleplaying Game)
Genre: Backstory, Father-Son Relationship, Female Friendship, Gen, Hollows (Bleach), Mother-Son Relationship, Original Character(s), Shinigami, Shinigami/Zanpakutou Bond, TTRPG, Time Loop, Time Shenanigans, Time Travel, Unusual Zanpakutou
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-07-19
Updated: 2020-07-19
Packaged: 2021-03-05 04:29:08
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Graphic Depictions Of Violence
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,673
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/25388320
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/bluwaterdragoon/pseuds/bluwaterdragoon
Summary: In which we get to know a particularly strange youth, even among Shinigami.
Collections: bleach fandom





	Topher's Story

**Author's Note:**

> Welcome to my second posted fic! I enjoy doing backstories for a variety of fandoms so please look forward to it!
> 
> Cinematic quotes are located at the end of the fic corresponding to the numbers embedded in the fic!
> 
> This backstory is even more awesome if you know the homebrew abilities of this Fullbringer character, so please let me know if you'd like me to post the character sheet in total!

Backstory

In 1999 a Shinigami named Lorelei was dispatched to take down a very powerful, intelligent Hollow known as The Zero (1). Her destination was Japan and she was given permission to use a gigai and to take her time, to lure out The Zero. The mission was overall going well, The Zero was on the move, ready to feed on the human souls, and Lorelei was ready to take it down. Four months into the mission there was a huge showdown in the Minami Ward of Yokohama, Japan. The Zero attempted to attack the civilian humans there and Lorelei, having prepared for this for months, was there to stop it. The take-down was largely successful; Lorelei’s suite of time-bending abilities was a good antidote for The Zero’s spiritual strength. Although she was not able to completely finish the Hollow, she greatly wounded it. In the process, she saved a woman named Sakae Ito. 

Sakae Ito had been injured in the fight, and Lorelei felt responsible for her well-being. So, donning her gigai once more, Lorelei rushed Sakae to emergency services. Sakae, who had witnessed Lorelei’s gigai actions, though not the combat, was grateful to her new “friend” and demanded Lorelei visit her and her husband at their house. Lorelei reluctantly agreed. Sakae and her husband Juzo were a charming couple, and made it clear that they felt they owed a great deal to Ms. Lorelei. Lorelei attempted to leave several times, but Sakae could be very charming and insightful when she wanted to. Sakae, for her part, knew that her friend Lorelei was hiding some secret, and worried how it might be affecting Lorelei. She knew that, deep down, Lorelei was carrying a huge burden. So, in small ways, she tried to lighten the load (2). Lorelei appreciated the effort and kindness with which Sakae treated her, and they soon became friends.

During the next five years Lorelei continued to search for The Zero, while relying on Sakae for her friendship and emotional support when times got tough. Sakae and Juzo eventually had a child, they named him “Topher”. Proudly Sakae announced that Lorelei was to be the child’s godmother. Lorelei realized that her work had taken her far from these simple joys. Meeting the child for the first time was bittersweet for Lorelei, it was a reminder of the cost of becoming a Shinigami and a reminder of what she had left behind as a human. Sakae, sensing her friend’s longing insisted that Lorelei hold the baby, and demanded she accept responsibility of being the godmother. The offer was far too tempting, especially with the small baby crying and wiggling in her arms, and Lorelei accepted.

Three years after the birth of Topher, Lorelei, Juzo, and Sakae were walking together with Topher in the park, when they were ambushed by a surprise attack from The Zero. Lorelei found herself unprepared and in a poor area for staging such a battle. Sakae, confused by her friend’s strange behavior and even stranger words, tried desperately to ask the gigai what was going on. Topher, seeing the strange and terrifying creature, ripped his hand away from his father’s grip and hid under a bush. Juzo, distracted, tried to see where the boy had run off to. The Zero quickly realized that Lorelei was purposefully directing it away from Sakae and Juzo, and in a moment of cruelty feigned a strike at Lorelei, only to turn at the last second and strike Sakae in the chest. Sakae collapsed on the ground, her body mauled and her soul stolen by The Zero. Juzo, in a fit of shocked anger, tried to rush Lorelei’s gigai, believing it to be responsible, only to become a target himself for The Zero. He collapsed next to Sakae, their hands barely touching in death. Topher whimpered from the bushes, causing The Zero to turn to look at this new interesting target. Taking this as a tactical advantage, Lorelei swung at The Zero with her Zanpakuto. Once, twice, thrice she hit the Hollow. The Zero was again gravely wounded, but it was a master of escape, especially since it had time to practice during its long recovery, and beat a hasty retreat. Lorelei regained her gigai form and rushed to Topher. The boy was scared, and clung to her desperately, still staring, shocked, at his mother and father’s prone body. Lorelei felt a moment of panic; Sakae was dead, someone had to take care of this boy, and The Zero was still out there (3).

Lorelei damned her sense of responsibility that had gotten her into this mess; she felt responsible for Sakae, and Sakae was dead. Now she felt responsible for Topher, but her own desire to keep him safe could put him in harm’s way. She had barely gotten to know the small Fullbringer, but she couldn’t just leave him to god-knows-what in the human system for lost boys. Not least because The Zero might be hunting him and, even if that wasn’t the case, his Fullbring would no doubt cause him grief with foster parents and other kids. With this on her mind, she contacted the Soul Society and reported her near-successes. As part of the mission to hunt down The Zero, and to avoid the possibility of being ambushed again, Lorelei argued, she should be given a reiatsu concealing gigai. The Soul Society was impressed with her successes so far, and granted her request.

Over the next ten years Lorelei used the reiatsu concealing gigai to hide herself from the Soul Society and from The Zero alike, while raising Topher. Topher had been too young to remember his mother, and quickly adapted to Lorelei filling that void. Topher was a good kid, good at school, had a few friends, and was occasionally bullied, but that was to be expected from a nerdy teen. The Soul Society occasionally asked for a status update, and Lorelei would remind them it took years to locate The Zero the first time, and now it had cause to be more careful.

The month before Topher’s 14th birthday The Zero attacked. Lorelei was out with Topher helping him with a school project aimed at identifying local trees. Lorelei couldn’t even fathom how The Zero had worked out where she was, and it hadn’t left any sign of its coming, no bodies with their souls eaten, no live news reports from the scene of terrible “accidents”. But, she was not shocked. Not this time. 

This was the first time Topher could remember having seen his mother’s true form as a Shinigami. But he felt the fear of The Zero from long ago. Lorelei yelled at the boy to run away but Topher knew that if he left he would see her on the ground, dead, like those important people in the past.

Lorelei and The Zero traded blow for blow. This time The Zero knew better than to target Topher; Lorelei would take full advantage of any openings, as she’d proved before. However, The Zero had not been idle in its exile, and, unlike Lorelei, who had turned her talents to other tasks, it had been training for years. Soon, Lorelei found herself out of stamina, with The Zero breathing down her neck. Even her Zanpakuto admitted that they were running out of time. The Zero smashed Lorelei through a tree, and pinned her to the ground with one giant leg. Desperately, Topher rushed to his mother’s side. 

Lorelei looked at Topher and smiled. The Zanpakuto was right, they were out of time and Lorelei was tired of fighting and running. But, if she left him, Topher, here, his nascent Fullbring wouldn’t be enough to save him. She could see in front of her Topher had both arms up, in an attempt to shield both himself and his mother from The Zero’s claws. In an instant, Lorelei made her decision. She stabbed Topher in the chest with her Zanpakuto. Topher looked at his mother, his trusted defender, with a look of surprise and incredulity (4). Lorelei tried to shunt as much of her Shinigami power as possible to the pained Topher, but just then the foot came back up and smashed down on the already prone Lorelei. The force of the blow broke the Zanpakuto, leaving a shard embedded in the screaming Topher. In one final act of desperation, the dying Lorelei gathered her remaining power in a great white light, and threw Topher back, the force of her reiatsu catapulting Topher back through time. For Topher, there was a sensation of extreme dizziness before the dark fog overtook his mind.

Epilogue

Time has a way of healing itself. Lorelei and The Zero were trapped at the moment of Lorelei’s sacrifice inside their battle. Sakae’s soul had been consumed by The Zero, but Juzo had merely died. Topher had taken the imbedded Zanpakuto, a small slice of Lorelei’s power, and his own existence back through time with him. The Zanpakuto, now a shard, in an effort to fulfill Lorelei’s dying wish, had fused with the boy, becoming bound to him as his own soul-sword. As a result, Topher was thrown back to his two-year-old self, in the care of his father, Juzo. Everyone remembers that Sakae, his mother, was killed in a car crash, and that same crash was what gave Topher his chest scar, which he has to this day (5). It is assumed, although not fully confirmed, that Lorelei died in her battle with The Zero. The Zanpakuto, by force of will, remained, as a symbol of Lorelei’s promise to never leave Topher’s side.

(1) “I am the nothing, the zero.” –The Zero  
(2) “Even if I can’t know what burdens you, at least I can help carry the load.” -Sakae  
(3) “What can I do? I have to make this right. I owe it to Sakae!” –Lorelei  
(4) “M-Mother, why?” -Topher  
(5) “I was impaled by a four-inch glass shard! I heard I almost died in the hospital bed that night.” - Topher


End file.
